Grading machine



Dec. 31, 1929.

1. A. ,COGSWELL 1,741,149

GRADING MACHINE Original Filed Aug. 20. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 31, 19-29. -L. A. cosswsu.

GRADING MACHINE Original Filed Aug. 20. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet- 2 Dec. 31, 1929. 1.. A. COGSWELL GRADING MACHINE Origifial Filed Aug. 20. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet ll l l I HHH IHU HI I I I I IHH H IHU Dec. 31, 1929. A. COGSWELL 1,741,149

GRADING MACHINE Original Filed Aug. 20, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Ely (93 O WV feeding and detecting rolls;

Patented Dec. 31, 1929 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEANDEB A. COGSWELL, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO LAOENE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE GRADING MACHINE Original application. filed August 20, 1921, Serial No. 494,009. Divided and this application flied June 25, 1927. Serial No. 201,457.

This application is a division of an application filed by me August 20, 1921, Serial No. 494,009 (now Letters Patent No. 1,693,638 issued December 4, 1928), for an automatic top-lift grading and distributing machine, to which reference is made for a full description of the objects and principles of the ma chine as a whole. The present application has to do primarily with those features of the invention which include the feeding in devices at the front of the machine and parts associated therewith.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my machine as a whole;

Fig. 2 is a side view;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front view, partly in section, on line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation of part of the feed hopper or magazine;

Fig. 6 is a vertical cross section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Figs. 7 and 8 are views similar,respect1vely, to Figs. 5 and 6 but of a modified construction' Fig. 9 is a horizontal cross section taken at about the point of the broken top of the hopper in Fig. 2; i

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary View in elevation and partly in cross section of the lever and cam construction whichacts to separate the Figs. 11, 12 and 13 are details of form of blank separating and feeding device, Fig. 11 being a central vertical section of a fragmentary portion thereof, and Fig. 12 being a top plan view of the blank-engaging reciprocator, and Fig. 13 being a bottom plan View thereof; and

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a portion of the gate opening mechanism.

For a complete description of the machine as a whole, including the grade detecting mechanism, the setting and transmission mechanisms, the skiving mechanism, and the distributing or sorting mechanism, reference a modified may be had to my said original application Serial No. 494,009 (now Letters Patent No. 1,693,638 issued December 4, 1928), filed August 20, 1921, and to another division thereof, namely, Serial No. 578,639, filed July 31, 1922. The present description will therefore be confined mainly to those parts of the machine which have to do with the feeding in of the blanks. For convenience the same reference numerals will be used as areused in my aforesaid applications.

The feeding is accomplished from a stack of blanks 49, herein shown as deposited be tween a stationary but adjustable, upright, front wall 50 and a fixed, upright, rear wall 51 (Figs. 1, 2, 5 to 9). The wall 51 carries lateral, vertical guides 52 held in true vertical parallelism by cross members 53 which fit into transverse grooves 54 in the front of the upright wall 51. Said members 53 are simultaneously moved toward or from each other by a right and left hand screw 55 (Fig. 9), mounted to turn in a fixed bracket 56 supported on the upright wall 51 and carrying opposite nuts or arms 57 which project from the respective side guides 52 so that when the guide adjusting screw 55 is turned to the left (Fig. 2), the guides 52 will be separated to fit wider stock, and when turned to the right the guides will be drawn toward each other to fit narrower stock.

The machine is particularly adapted to handle thin and difficult work. One danger in a machine of this character is that the machines may feed two pieces of stock at the same time, especially if the stock is thin and flimsy. In order to prevent this, I have mounted blank retarders on the lower end of I the rear wall 51 of thehopper, one form of retarder being shown in Figs. 5 and 6 and another form being shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, it will be seen that a bar 58 is mounted tomove up and down in a way 59 provided on the rear of wall 51, said bar being held yieldingly downward by a spring 60, and provided with a beveled foot 61 having a curved engaging surface of short radius in position to be engaged by the lower pieces of work, such as top-lifts. Thus, when a top lift is moved. rearwardly in the machine from the bottom of the stack by the feeding mechanism, it engages the curved surface of foot 61 with only slight resistance at the very bottom edge of said foot, but if a second or third top-lift should also he accidentally moved along frictionally by and with the bottommost top-lift, the upper lifts would meet increasing resistance from the upper part of the curved foot and would thereby be held back, as the only way said upper toplifts can get tl'irough is against the frictional resistance of the foot 61 and the resistance of the spring 60. This form of retarder is especially well adapted to very small and thin top-lifts.

The form of retarder shown. in Figs. 7 and 8 consists of two depending fingers 62, pivoted at 63 on the lower ends of the guides 52 and normally held downward by springs 6%, but otherwise acting very much the same as the foot 61. Opposite these retarders, at the rear side of the front wall 50, I cut away the lower part of said wall to provide a beveled recess 65 (Fig. 2) which enables the lower top-lifts to drop down more readily to position for being fed into the machine when the reciprocating device returns after having fed forward the bottom-most blank. If this wall were straight, without said recess, there would be a frictional resistance which might result in the next blank remaining stuck or not dropping freely into feeding position.

In Figs. 1 and 3 I have shown a feed hook or work projector in the form of a hook 66, held under upward tendency by a spring 67, and pivoted at 68 to an adjustable plate 69 engaged by a yielding stud 70 held in a carrier 71 at the upper end of a reciprocating post 72, said carrier being mounted to reciprocate in ways 73 in the top of the table 74 which carries the hopper or magazine and blank engaging mechanism thus far described.

As my machine is especially arranged to handle small pieces of stock, such as small sizes of heel-lifts for instance, it is necessary that the reciprocator or work projector 66 shall move very close to the detecting and feeding rolls 1 and 1, hence the bevel or inclination of said projector between its pivot and the engaging shoulder or hook has to be quite stee In View of this fact, together with the necessity for handling curled and often very thin pieces of stock, I have pro vided at each side of the raceway 73 stationary inclines 75 which serve to hold the rear edges of even badly curled pieces of stock in such a position that the hook is sure to engage said pieces sufliciently to project them.

In Figs. 11 to 13 I have shown a form of projector which can handle still smaller pieces of stock because it can go closer to the feeding and detecting rolls. This form consists of a projector plate 76 having a short bevel 77 and mounted on an adjacent plate 7 8 substantially the same as plate 69. Preferably this projector plate 7 6 is roughened or knurled at its top 7 9 to aid in bringing back the next or second top-lift when the first has just been fed or projected.

The projector 66 (or 76) and connected parts are actuated by a rotary shaft 80 whose crank 81 is connected by a link 82 to the reciprocating post 72, said rotary shaft being actuated by a gear 83 on its outer end (Figs. 1 and 2), meshing with an idler gear 8 1 in engagement with a clutch gear 85, normally idle but actuated at the proper moment to engage a continuously rotating clutch part 86 fast on the outer end of the feed roll shaft which carries the feed roll 1.

As before stated, my invention is especially adapted to handle difficult stock such as curled and thin and small pieces, and accordingly an important feature of the present invention is the provision of means for so iarating the rolls 1 and 4: (Figs. 3 and 4) of the detecting mechanism and raising the ate 8'? (which in the present machine per- Iorins more the function of a trip than a gate proper), so that even the thinnest or most refractory stock is sure to get in place between the detector rolls. Without this feature' some stock would be apt to turn up against the gate or wedge or crumple against the rolls, but by this provision the gate is raised just before the blank reaches it and then the blank is fed onward into position between the then separated rolls, which imiedi'ately close down on it and begin the performance of the feeler or detecting operation. At about the same time the gate or trip 8? falls on the top of the surface of the stock where it rests until the stock passes out from under it.

The gate is lifted by a cam lever 88 (Fig. 1 1) whose free end 89 loosely engages the under side of arm 90 of the gate, said cam lever being pivotally connected at 91 to the under side of the table 7-1- and having its cam portion in position to be engaged by the swinging end 92 of the crank 81 fast on the inner end of shaft 80 (Figs. 2, 3 and 1 1).

The upper detecting roll 4 is lifted by the engagement of a cam 93, mounted on the shaft 80, with a tripping shoulder 94. on the yoke 95 (Figs. 10, 8 and 1), pivoted to the frame at 96. The upper ends 97 of yoke 95 project under the opposite ends of the shaft of the upper detector roll 41- in position to lift said roll under the actuation of cam 93. It will be understood that the roll 1 is yieldingly pressed downward, as usual, by spring 8 acting through levers The top-lift or other blank is carried along from the feeler or detecting mechanism by the chain 2 to the outgoing rolls 28, 29 where it is evened by the skiving knife 31 in accordance with the thinnest measurement or detection to which said rolls have been set, and the evened or skived blank is then instantly seized by two delivery rolls 98 and 99 (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) the former being driven by a pinion 100 (Fig. 2), and idler 101, which is in turn driven by the pinion 41, all as described in my said former applications.

Rolls 98 and 99 in addition to their function of delivering the stock from the skiving mechanism, into the distributing chute 102, also start the blank feeding mechanism, raise the gate 87 and separate the in-going feeding and detecting rolls 1 and 4.

As herein shown this is accomplished by means of a cam 103 (Fig. 3) which is formed as a part of roll 99 and engages an arm 104 on a rock shaft 105, which is provided at its outer end (Fig. 2) with a rocker arm 106 con nected by a link 107 to a trigger or actuator 108, pivoted at 109 on an adjacent stationary part of the machine and depending to engage and actuate the free end 110 of a cam carrier bar 111, pivoted at 112 to the frame of the machine, whose cam or cam plate 118 is best shown in Fig. 1, in position to engage a pin 114 projecting into its path from the loose clutch member 85, spring 115, being preferably provided to insure quick and proper positioning of the parts. Thus, as soon as the roll 99 has rotated sufliciently in its work of delivering or ejecting the skived blank to swing arm 104 rearwardly, the clutch is thereby connected so as instantly to start the feeding of the next blank and the raising of the gate 87 and the separation of the rolls 1 and 4 to receive said blank.

In View of the difference in lengths of different blanks and other technical requirements of the fact, I have made the free end of arm 104 adjustable by means of a slot 117 and wing nut 118. If desired also this free end of the arm may extend downwardly, as shown at 119, in the path'of the blank so that if the cam 103 is not used the blank itself will hit the arm, or this depending portion 119 thereof, and accomplish the tripping of the clutch. The roll 98 is positively driven, but as herein shown the roll 99 is driven by" the engagement therewith of the stock and is returned to its original. position by a spring 120 wound around its farther end (Fig. 1) and secured at one end to the bracket or journal and at the other end to the roll.

It will be understood that the gate 87 rests upon the top of the blank which is being fed between the detector rolls and that when the blank passes out from under the gate 87, the latter drops and brings the detector trans missions to a halt by locking the same through the depending link 127, pivoted at its upper end to the gate, as more fully described in my said former applications. The gate also constitutes governing means to control the admission of blanks to the grade detecting rolls.

In operation, let it be supposed that the hopper is filled with blanks of stock such as top-lifts 49. It will be seen that the blanks will be held in position by the front and rear walls 50 and 51 and the side guides 52, with the bottom blank slightly raised at its rear by the stubby incline 75. The rear ends of this blank and adjacent blanks will be held out of frictional engagement with the front wall 50 because of the recess so that the projector hook 66 (or plate 76) will be sure to engage positively the rear end of even small thin top-lifts as it reciprocates forward under the action of a slide 71 and the connected parts 72, 82, 80, 83, 84, etc. Just as the forward end of the blank nearly reaches the gate 87, the same rotary movement of the shaft 80 which moves the blank projector causes the arm 81 to engage the cam 88 (Figs. 2 and 14) and thereby to lift the gate out of the path of the inwardly moving blank. Likewise the upper feeding'and detecting roll 4 is moved upwardly out of the way of the blank, this movement being accomplished through the rotation of the same shaft 80 andthe action of its cam 93 (Fig. 10) on the parts 94, 95 and 97, and as soon as the leading end of the blank gets just between the rolls 1 u and 4, the roll 4 closes down tight upon it in feeling or detecting position, and the gate 87 drops on to the top of the blank as soon as arm 81 moves out from under cam 88.

The advancing blank immediately actuates trip 134 which controls the preservation of the feeling or detecting operation as explained in my aforesaid. applications. As the blank moves out from under the gate 87, the latter drops and acting through link 127 looks that part of the setting mechanism controlled by it in its then adjustment. The further operation of the setting mechanisms, adjusting mechanisms, locking mechanisms,

skiving mechanisms and distributing mechanism-s, as the blank progresses through the machine, are fully explained in my aforesaid applications and need not be further described herein as they do not immediately relate to the subject matter of the present ap plication.

As the blank enters between the positively driven ejector roll 98 and the frictionally driven ejector roll 99, at the delivery end of the machine, the rotation of roll 99 acting engage the constantly rotating member 86, and thereby through parts 84, 85, 81, 82, 72, etc. starts the blank feeding mechanism to repeat the cycle of movements already described.

Although I have described my invention as applied to a machine especially adapted for handling small pieces, such as top-lifts, heellifts, taps, half soles and the like, it is not limited thereto but it will be understood that it may readily be adjusted or changed in dimensions to accommodate soles and other relatively long and large died out pieces.

I claim:

1. Automatic blank feeding mechanism adapted to select and move one blank at a time from a mass of blanks, comprising a blank engaging and feeding member, a reciprocating carrier on the ingoing end of which the blank engaging member is mounted to on gage the rear end of a blank, and feeding de vices to receive the blank, said blank engaging member being capable of movement close to said feeding devices, and mechanism to move said carrier to bring the blank engaging member close to said feeding devices.

2. Automatic blank feeding mechanism adapted to select and move one blank at a time from a mass of blanks, comn -ng a blank engaging and feeding member, a reciprocating carrier on the ingoing end of which the blank engaging member is mounted to agage the rear end of a blank, feeding devices to receive the blank, said blank engaging member being capable of movement close to said feeding devices, a gate beneath which the blanks are fed, and mechanism to move said carrier to bring the blank engaging member beneath said gate and close to said feeding devices.

3. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, feeding mechanism to feed the blanks to said feeding-in rolls, a gatein front of said feeding-in rolls, and operating mechanisms for and combined with all the foregoing adapted to open said feeding-in rolls and gate, feed a blank, and close the gate and said feeding-in rolls on to the blank.

4. In a machine of the kind described, in combination, feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, feeding mechanism to feed the blanks to said feeding-in rolls, a gate in front of said feeding-in rolls, said gate and feeding-in rolls having an open position to receive a blank, and mechanism timed to close the gate and the feeding in rolls on to the blank while it is being fed in.

5. In a machine of the kind described, in combination, feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, feeding mechanism to feed in the blanks to said feeding-in rolls, a gate in front of said feeding-in rolls, said gate and feeding-in rolls having an open position to receive a blank, and mechanism timed to open the gate and the feeding-in rolls during the feeding in of the blank and then to close the gate and feeding-in rolls on to the blank when fed in at least that far.

6. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, feeding mechanism to feed the blanks to the feeding-in rolls, an actuator to open the feeding-in rolls to receive a blank, and means actuated by a preceding blank during its progress through the machine to operate said actuator.

7. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, feeding mechanism to feed the blanks to the feeding-in rolls, an actuator to operate said feeding mechanism and to open the feeding-in rolls to receive a blank while the blank is being fed forward, and means actuated by a preceding blank during its progress through the machine to operate said actuator.

8. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, feeding mechanism to feed the blanks the feeding-in rolls, a gate in front of the blanks to the feeding-in rolls including a I reciprocating projector member having a short incline at its forward end next to said feeding-in rolls and a shoulder adapted to engage the rear end of a blank for pushing the same forward.

10. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls, blank feeding means for feeding blanks one at a time from a mass of blanks to the feeding-in rolls including a reciprocating projector member having a short incline at its forward end next to said feeding-in rolls and a shoulder adapted to engage the rear end of a blank for pushing the same forward, and having a roughened top side for frictionally positioning the next blank after the forward feeding of the first blank.

11. In a machine of the kind described, blank feeding means for feeding blanks one at a time from a mass of blanks including a central reciprocating projector for engaging the rear middle edge of a blank to be fed, and opposite short stationary inclines in position to engage and lift the opposite side edges of the blank at either side of the point where said projector engages the rear middle of the blank.

12. In a machine of the kind described, blank feeding means for feeding blanks one at a time from a stack of blanks, a magazine for supporting said blanks including a front wall for guiding the back ends of the blanks, a projector for engaging the blanks one by one and moving them from the bottom of the stack, said front wall being undercut at its lower portion just above the path of said reciprocator to prevent frictional retardation of the lower blanks and facilitate the positioning of the bottommost blank for engagement by said projector.

13. Ina machine of the kind described, blank feeding means for feeding blanks one at a time from a stack of blanks, a magazine for supporting said blanks, having opposite walls for supporting the opposite ends of said blanks, one of said walls being provided with opposite parallel guides movable toward and from each other and provided with means to maintain them in parallelism, and means for adjusting said guides toward and from each other.

14. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls, a magazine to hold blanks for delivery to said feeding-in rolls having a rear wall, a reciprocator for delivering the blanks one by one from said magazine to the feeding-in rolls, and a retarding member movably mounted adjacent the lower edge. of the rear wall of said magazine and having a curved engaging surface of short radius or bevel in position to be engagedbythe adjacent edges of the lower blanks in the stack to afford slight resistance to the bottommost blank but increasing resistance to those above it.

15. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls, a magazine to hold blanks for delivery to said feedingin rolls having a rear wall, areciprocator for delivering the blanks one by one from said magazine to the feeding-in rolls, and a yieldingly mounted retarding member adjacent said wall and having a lower end depending below said Wall provided with a beveled and inclined blank engaging surface, said beveled surface being adapted to offer slight resistance to the bottommost blank but greater resistance to the next superposed blank.

16. In a machine of the kind described, a pair of feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, a lever adapted to separate the feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by one to the feeding-in rolls, an operating shaft comm-on to the foregoing, and actuating connections between said common shaft and the reciprocating feeder and the lever, respectively, adapted to reciprocate the feeder, and separate the feedingin rolls in timed relation to each other.

17. In a machine of the kind described, a pair of feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, a lever adapted to separate the feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by.one to the feeding-in rolls, an operating shaft common to the foregoing, and actuating connections between said common shaft and the reciprocating feeder and the lever, respectively, adapted to reciprocate the feeder, and separate the feeding-in rolls and also to close the feedingin rolls upon the blank all in timed relation to one another.

18. In a machine of the kind described, a pair of feeding-in rolls movable toward and from one another, a lever adapted to separate the feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by one to the feeding-in rolls, a gate in front of the feeding-in rolls, an operating shaft common to the foregoing, and actuating connections between said common shaft and the reciprocating feeder, the gate and the lever, respectively, adapted to reciprocate the feeder, open the gate and separate the feeding-in rolls in timed relation to one another.

19. In a machine of the kind described, a pair of feeding-in rolls movable toward and from each other, a lever adapted to separate the feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by one to the feeding-in rolls, a gate in front of the feeding-in rolls, an operating shaft common to the foregoing, and actuating connections between said common shaft and the reciprocating feeder, the gate and the lever, respectively, adapted to reciprocate the feeder, open the gate and separate the feeding-in rolls and also to close the gate and close the feeding-in rolls upon the blank all in timed relation to one another.

20. In a machine of the kind described,

feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by one to the feeding-in rolls, mechanism to actuate the reciprocating feeder, a trip at the outgoing end of the machine, and connections between the trip and the actuating mechanism of the feeder adapted to start the latter when the trip is actuated by an outgoing blank.

21. In a machine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls, means to separate the feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by one to the feeding-in rolls, mechanism to actuate the reciprocating feeder, a gate in front of the feeding-in rolls, means to open the gate, a trip at the outgoing end of the machine, and connections between the trip and the actuating mechanism of the feeder, the rolls and the gate, adapted to start the feeder, open the gate and separate the feeding-in rolls when the trip is actuated by an outgoing blank.

22. In amachine of the kind described, feeding-in rolls, a reciprocating feeder to feed blanks one by one to the feeding-in rolls, mechanism to actuate the reciprocating feeder, a delivery roll adapted to be rotated by the outgoing blank, a trip operated by said delivery roll and connections between the trip and the actuating mechanism of the feeder adapted to start the latter When the delivery roll is rotated by the outgoing blank.

Signed by me at Manchester, New Hampshire, this 21st day of June, 1927.

LEANDER A. COGSWELL. 

